* Top U.S. corporate tax rate is 35 percent
* Obama seen calling for lower rate, in line with peers
* Opening salvo in corporate tax revamp (Adds administration official, Bernstein comments)
By Kim Dixon
WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama will call for cutting the top 35 percent corporate tax rate as early as this month, according to two sources close to the administration.
The president is likely to propose a rate closer to an average of that seen in peer nations, the sources said.
This would jibe with remarks made last year by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who suggested the United States should be moving to a rate more in line with its major trading partners in the high 20-percent range.
Obama outlined tax measures – including closing tax loopholes for companies that move facilities and jobs overseas – in his State of the Union speech in January, and will lay out principles for revamping corporate taxes by the end of February, a senior administration official said.
“We will talk more before the end of the month on what corporate tax reform would look like,” the official said on Friday, confirming that it would include a call for “lower rates.”
Facing a potentially tough presidential re-election challenge this November, Obama will propose cutting the rate following the release of his 2013 budget plan on Monday, Feb. 13, according to the sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record.
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